Month: August 2017

I was thinking about what I could write up this week and I thought to myself ” Toots, why not just write something light-hearted, fun and something to appreciate just a few of the wonderful species we have on this planet”.

I then came up with having an 8 animal fact feature on this blog, and every fortnight writing a small ” fact” article on a single species I love and feel people would maybe like to know a little bit more about, if you don’t perhaps know already.

Why only 8 facts? because 8 is a good number, just because… there is no logical reasoning.

For my first week i have chosen the beautiful squishy beans; Manatees.

Fact 2There are 3 species of known Manatee. The Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee. which latin names are Trichechus inunguis, Trichechus manatus and Trichechus senegalensis (what a mouthful imma right?)

Fact 3Early explorers such as Christopher Columbus believed to have seen female-like figures swimming in the ocean, creating legends of mermaids from this era.
A lot of these encounters are now known to have been manatees and manatees are now being credited for being the base of mermaid legends.

Fact 4Manatees can grow from 8-13ft and weigh up to 1300 pounds! (They can also live around 40-60 years in the wild!)

Fact 5A manatee can eat up to a tenth of its weight in a 24 hour period, eating algae, sea grass and other marine weeds.

Fact 7
Manatees have no natural predators but humans have played a massive part in making all three of the manatee species close to extinction. (Which really sucks btw, shame on you humanity) These gentle creatures are usually hit by boats, entangled in fishing nets and hunted for attributes such as there hide.

Fact 8Manatees in Florida congregate at a power plants discharge pipes as the water is warm you can read more about this here.

And there you have it. 8 facts about our beloved sea cows.
you can learn more about saving the manatees over at the Save the Manatee Club or learn more about the threats to the manatee species and conservation efforts at the dolphin research centre.

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) plays a crucial role within our communities and in our world.

How? you might ask.

Well first of all, they assist in the sustenance of the Earth’s natural ecosystems and are an important within agricultural crop growth, so there.

Bees pollinate up to 84% of crops that are grown for human consumption every year including fruit, seeds and coffees. (basically all the nice things we enjoy and need…who could possibly live without a non-fat decaff soya latte?! )

The annual crop pollination of bees globally has a worth of about 170 billion per annum, which is a lot of dam money and proves that bees are not only important to us on an Ecological level, but also on an economical one, making them pretty important to our environment.

A buff- tail bumble bee pollinating the crap out of a flower (via Country living)

The bee population has been declining for such a long time but has only recently come to the attention of the general public and many media sources. It is an important issue as many species of bees have fallen into the endangered category over the last year under the Endangered Species act according to the U.S Fish and Wildlife services including the Yellow-Face bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) and the Rusty Patched Bumblebee (Bombus affinis).

The importance of conserving the dwindling population of bees is becoming more apparent than ever, as not only are we at risk of losing plants, crops and food supplies that these beautiful little insects pollinate, but also the meadows and the animals that eat those plants causing a knock on effect through the food chain and ultimately the loss of other species within our biosphere and that is the last thing we want on our planet.

On the bright side of this topic, the more this subject matter is coming to light with the public and bee keepers alike worldwide. The more conservation efforts are being brought into local communities. such as volunteering at the bumblebee conservation trust and Supporting the British Bee Keeper Association.

With current conservation efforts put in place an becoming more known and education on the subject matter being more widespread than ever before.
And hopefully there is still time to save our fuzzy little bee mates from disaster and we can all pull together to put an end to the decline.